Right stance, wrong reason

This is a fairly typical argument made by market-oriented conservatives in favour of parental choice in education: "Killing Opportunity":

Voucher programs provide failing public schools with the incentives they need to improve. Under the current system, urban public schools don't have to worry too much about providing students with a quality education because their students have no real opportunity to leave. Vouchers force public schools to compete with private schools for their students, as well as the state funding those students generate, by providing a better education.

Such may indeed be the case, but it rather misses the point: parents should have prior right in choosing which school their children attend because a child's education is properly a parental responsibility. Even if voucher programmes did not have the effect indicated in the quoted passage, justice still requires that parental educational decisions be respected by government.